ANC hopes Methodists will minister to them

The ANC hopes the Methodist Church of Southern Africa will soon reverse its decision to bar its ministers from serving as chaplains for political parties.

A report presented at an ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting in March held that the church may “revisit” the ban.

The Mail & Guardian has seen minutes of that meeting,
which said “the Methodist Church had been engaged and there are signs that they
may revisit their position on the chaplaincy”.

Secretary general Gwede Mantashe told the meeting that relations
were being “rebuilt” with the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and the
party was “initiating a process on appointing a chaplain”.

In September last year, the conference of the Methodist Church of
Southern Africa resolved to bar, with immediate effect, all its ministers from
being chaplains of political parties. This decision applied to all political
parties but affected the ANC the most because it had appointed a chaplain
general and provincial chaplains as office bearers.

The ruling party lost its
former chaplain general, Reverend Dr Vukile Mehana, who was forced to step down
by the church.
Provincial chaplains were also affected by the decision.

The Methodist Church has however denied it was reconsidering its
resolution of barring priests from holding political office. Presiding Bishop
Reverend Ziphozihle Siwa told the M&G on Tuesday that “no, we are not engaging
on that matter. I wonder where that [ANC report] comes from”.

Siwa, who is also SACC president, said “the whole of the church
must minister to all people equally. The church cannot be seen to be partisan”.
He said ministers can preach to political gatherings, as long as
they do not hold office. “They must not take an official position, but they can
minister to people both inside and outside political parties.”

Siwa added that holding political office “becomes worse if there
are political factions or a conflict between political parties. A minister
should be above that”.

Strained relations

The M&G reported in December that relations between the
ANC and South Africa’s mainstream churches had reached an all-time low under
the leadership of party president Jacob Zuma.

In his report to the NEC in November, Mantashe admitted relations between the party and the SACC were severely strained.
Mantashe had already started facilitating meetings to try and
repair relations at the time that he presented the report in November to the
party’s highest decision-making structure between conferences.

At the time Mehana told the M&G that the Methodist
Church wanted to remain “in a mediatory role that is independent of politics”.
Referring to discussions that had taken place between the SACC and
the ANC last year, Mantashe said the church council was of the view that the
ANC was “more comfortable with wealth religion and those who are not critical
of the ANC”.

“Considering the somewhat distant relations we have had with the
SACC, this was a difficult meeting. Many issues were touched on without delving
into it. This debate was deferred to a later date, as it was clear that there
is [a] need to first clear the air.”

The ANC was founded in the Waaihoek Wesleyan church outside
Bloemfontein in 1912 and has always valued a close relationship with the
clerical elite. But last year’s decision by the Methodist Church meant that
this relationship was no longer as close as it was before.
“The implications of this is that the chaplain general and other
provincial chaplains should relinquish their chaplaincy to the ANC
immediately,” read Mantashe’s report.

‘Sorry state of affairs’

Methodist lay-president James Nkosi said at the church’s conference in September that “we have the sorry state of affairs where millions of our
people are still in dire need of basic services like water, electricity,
sanitation, housing, etc. The list is endless”.

Yet, said Nkosi, referring to Zuma’s private home in Nkandla in
KwaZulu-Natal, “the state is able to spend more than R246-million in upgrading,
not building, the private residence of one person who, incidentally, gets the
fattest cheque every month, and will continue doing so until he goes to the
grave”.

The SACC is of the view that the ANC does not want to be
criticised and that some leaders desire “a prophet” who “speaks their
language”, acting SACC general secretary Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana told the M&G
in an interview in December. He called the council’s relationship with the ANC
one of “critical solidarity”.

The SACC is the umbrella body for 27 of the country’s most
prominent churches, including the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Anglican,
Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, Apostolic Faith Mission, Baptist and Lutheran
churches.

On Tuesday Siwa said that while the SACC had met the ANC, the
talks were “not about any particular matter, it’s just about leading together”.

“Just before 1994 the SACC asked itself how we are going to work
together with the democratic government because we had been supporting all
parties that fought for liberation. We said we must be in a relationship of
critical solidarity.

“We must support them where they need spiritual support and
criticise them where they do wrong.”

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa did not return calls for comment or respond to an SMS.

An
earlier version of this article, published under the headline ‘The
Methodist Church may no longer forsake the ANC’, may have given the
impression the church was considering lifting its ban on ministers
serving as party chaiplains. The church however says it is not reconsidering the ban.

Mmanaledi Mataboge

Mmanaledi Mataboge is the Mail & Guardian's political editor. Raised in a rural village, she later studied journalism in a township where she fell in love with the medium of radio. This former radio presenter and producer previously worked as a senior politics reporter for the Mail & Guardian, and writes on politics, government, and anything that gives the disadvantaged, poor, and the oppressed a voice. Read more from Mmanaledi Mataboge